UW News

October 21, 2004

Work/Life: Now helping employees on the Web

Juggling work and the rest of your life has never been easy, but the University’s Work/Life office, a division of Human Resources, has been trying to help ever since its creation in 1988. Now Work/Life is making its services more accessible by adding some Web-based resources.

Take the Nanny Share Network, for example. Now with a UW NetID, you can go to http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/childcare/nanny/index.html and register in the nanny share database, a listing of parents at the University who would like to share a nanny.

“The number of people in that database has doubled, to about 60, since it’s been online,” said Randi Shapiro, Work/Life manager. “From the client feedback, it seems to be quite successful.

Michelle Agnew, a project manager at the UW Medical Center, has had not one, but two successes with the Nanny Share Network. “In 2001, I decided to go back to work when my daughter was 6 months old,” she said. “Through the network, I found a family who had a nanny to share, and because my search was by zip code, they lived very close by.”

That situation lasted a year, after which the other family decided to move their children elsewhere. Agnew then stuck with the nanny and found another UW family to share with through the network.

“I think that finding the right childcare is incredibly stressful, and resources like the UW Nanny Share Network make it much easier,” Agnew said. “It was also nice to make a connection with another UW family — or two, in my case.”

Work/Life has another resource for childcare online too. Called the Caregiver Directory, it lists people who will provide part-time care — not only for children, but for elders or adults with special needs. Those willing to help with chores and errands are listed as well. People with a UW NetID who are looking for a caregiver can register at http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/caregiv/, after which they can search the directory for a suitable caregiver. University-affiliated people offering care can likewise register online.

“We have about 50 caregivers registered, almost all of them students,” Shapiro said. “Since we went online, the number of caregivers registered has increased dramatically.”

Other new online resources that Work/Life offers include a Web site that lists child-friendly locations and programs on campus, http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/school.age.prgrms.html, and an online catalog, http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/resourcecent/, for their resource center materials. Materials include books, pamphlets and videos that can be checked out. People can request them by e-mail and have them sent to their office or pick them up in person at the resource center.

“I’d also like to remind people about our wellness Web site, http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/wellness.html, where we’ve tried to gather a number of resources having to do with wellness,” Shapiro said. “It’s everything from finding a weight loss group on campus to getting fitted for a bicycle helmet.”

Other services sponsored by Work/Life include the TLC sick childcare service and monthly presentations on some aspect of work-life balance. TLC is a service operated at Virginia Mason Medical Center where parents can take mildly ill children to be cared for when they are too ill to go to school or daycare. The cost is underwritten by the University; parents pay only a $5 registration fee. For more information, go to http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/childcare/sickcare.html.

New this year on the presentation front are facilitated conversations. Shapiro said these are intended to be smaller, more informal discussions on a topic, and are held in the Work/Life resource center in the Brooklyn Building. For a complete schedule of presentations and conversations, go to http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/seminars.html. Those interested can subscribe to an e-mail list and receive a monthly notification of the programs.

All of the resources above can also be accessed from Work/Life’s homepage, http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/worklife/.